


Ad Astra

by Synapsida



Category: Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Angst, Comfort, DTI, Department of Temporal Investigations, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, General Q fuckery, Hurt, Original Character(s), Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Trauma, Slow Burn, Temporal Agent, Temporal Displacement, This will be a long one, emphasis on 'burn', timetravel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-10
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-06-08 08:31:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15239469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Synapsida/pseuds/Synapsida
Summary: Keva Scofield is a young member of the relatively fresh Department of Temporal Investigations and prides herself in being a temporal agent.She is sent with Ensign Lorilee, temporal agent in training, to investigate the destruction of the freighter Mercury and the vanishing of its Captain and First Officer.It is there at a time rift she makes first contact with an entity that calls itself Q.





	1. An Object in Motion stays in Motion

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jenlcb](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jenlcb/gifts).



> Thank you @jenlcb for inspiring me. :)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you've read this before (08-07-2018) you should read it again.  
> I have updated quite a bit about the DTI and how they operate in correspondence to "Watching the Clock", Christopher L Bennetts DTI novel (go read it, it's awesome).I'll also try as much as possible to keep the physics of established canon and this fic together.

The merchant ship Mercurys‘ hull was creaking with a cacophony of breaking steal and screeching metal. Cracks formed at the bottom of it’s nacelles and hastily spread over it’s surface - boring steadily down into the warp core.  
„Captain Irani here, all hands evacuate the ship.“ her dark timbre bellowed over the blaring klaxon into the intercom system. The status screen on the arm of her captains chair was glowing red in nearly all departments.  
How had it come to this.  
„Captain, Sir, crew is en route to evacuation.“  
„Aye, Number One. Prepare to board evacuation shuttle.“

The slender vulcan got up, but hesitated. His warm eyes searched her face until they caught her attention, lingering, uncertain about wether or not to say anything.  
„I’m coming, Murik.“ she said, now nearly whispering, her long gracile fingers gently running down the buttons and screens of her captains chair.  
For one long moment everything had been fine. She remembered having laughed at some joke. It was a run-of-the-mill hauling run in Vulcan space. They had been as far from danger as one could be in these days, with only the hull of a ship separating them from the deadly vacuum outside.  
„Captain. The ship is lost.“, Murik urged her now. His brow was furrowed in an unusual display of agitation. „Aye, Number One.“, she got up in one swift motion as another explosion rocked the ship, like an old sailing ship shaken in stormy sea.   
„Let’s get out of here.“

* * *

** Stardate: 2271 **

Keva Scofield lay sprawled out on her bed in a small apartment in San Francisco, a fan pointed to her back to move the hot and heavy air and offer a glimpse of comfort in a summer nights heat. Her forehead rested on a single, small pillow, with her arms stretched out above her. It was too hot. She was too drunk. Life was too complicated. Those were the three fundamental statements running its course in her head this night. She puffed to get a strain of her chestnut brown hair out of her face. It stuck to her sweaty skin and she let out a frustrated sigh. Whenever she moved the world turned just a tad bit later, lagging behind. It shook beneath her feet when she tried to get up and turned her stomach upside down. Whatever had gotten into her mind to celebrate them finishing the recent influx of paperwork regarding starfleet and it's reckless handling of temporal phenomena with Junior Agent Mvala Lorilee.

Wait. No. That had been not here idea. It had been the idea of Mvala. Mvala Lorilee. Lorilee sounded like jubilee and she snorted. It was only funny in her head and only right now. Junior Agent Lorilee was stern and adamant to follow protocol at work. Never would have anyone guessed that that bun of tangled blonde hair of hers hid so much personality. And such a strong liver. And such a predicament for finding the biggest party in San Francisco - which, of course, was a Starfleet party. Why did trouble always follow where Starfleet was headed? The woman on the bed let out a deep sigh.

Keva Scofield was 28 years old. Young by modern human standards, where life expectancy had nearly doubled in the last hundred years - and also very drunk by modern human standards. The very new Departmet of Temporal Investigations had just fnished wrapping up most of the Enterprises five year mission. Finally. It was as if the whole department had collectively held it’s breath and only now allowed itself to breath free again. One point solved, on to the next danger to the Quadrant, huzzah.

She growled and muttered and carefully turned around in her bed, the slowly moving air now caressing her face.  
„Oh, God.“  
Just in that moment she wished Kirk and his Enterprise had been crunched by a gravity well some 6 years ago. If just for the sake of her liver.

* * *

Her communicator went off at 0400. An ungodly time even on the most heavenly of days.  
This was none of them and she intended to ignore it, punching her pillow on the damned thing.  
„Shut up“, she mumbled.

* * *

  _Knock. Knock._  
Her door. It sounded more like a Klingon ripping at the doorhandle, trying to come in and murder her.  
„What.“ she croaked, her voice hoarse from a night with too little sleep and too much moonshine. Who brew moonshine these days. She would find out who that was and arrest him, be it in her position to do so or not.  
„Lorilee here.“  
Keva groaned and turned around, pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers.  
„Yes?“ she croaked back and tried to remember how to actually get out of a bed. How could this women be up already. That in itself was enough mystery for one day.  
„It would be more feasible if we discussed this matter in a way that would not inform half of your neighbors as well.“  
„Uh?“ pushing herself in an upright position Keva did a quick once-over of her one-room apartment. Nothing seemed outrageously out of order, nor did anything rank of unwashed clothes or rotten food.  
„Could you open the door, please?“ the Junior Agent lowered her formal manner for a second, almost sounding pleadingly.  
„Yeah, sure. Computer.“

Mvala stepped into a room that was acceptably clean, albeit a tad bit unorganized, at least in her opinion. But who was she to argue.  
Keva said on the edge of her bed, one hand rubbing her temples while the other one fumbled for a new T Shirt and a new pair of trousers. Everything was government issued - dark blue shirt and black trousers. Her young partner could neither spot a different color, nor a different type of clothing in the whole room.  
„What gives me the honor, Lorilee?“ _And how on heaven’s earth are you so fit. Am I really getting old already?_ She added in her mind without troubling herself to actually ask. How old was she, anyway? Seventeen perhaps.  
„We’ve received an emergency. Boss tried to hail you on your communicator, but couldn’t get through.“  
„Yeah“, Keva stifled a yawn and nodded warily. „I need to get that thing checked out.“ She grabbed a jacket from a chair next to her bed and a couple of boots, then stopped while getting up to get dressed. „Lorilee. Could you.. get me a hypo while I get dressed? And.. maybe not tell the boss about it?“  
Junior Agent Lorilees lips twitched treacherously, but she nodded and was off to leave her some peace and quiet to get ready.  
Maybe she was over enthusiastic and a ‚by-the-book‘ person, but she was a good kid. A good kid with an excellent liver.

In the end it took them over an hour to get dressed (Keva, not Lorilee obviously), get some breakfast into Keva (Orange Juice, she didn’t dare eating anything solid yet) and, most importantly, a hypo that finished it’s work by the time they arrived in their office. Well. A small office in the basement of federation headquarters, but an office nonetheless. They even had a small kitchen to prepare tea and coffee and a light lunch. And they were closer to whatever starfleet came up with then headquarters in Greenwhich.

* * *

„What have we got, Boss?“ Keva asked as soon as they sat down and then followed up with a soft spoken „Ooooooh“ once she saw the mission papers.  
„You two are out on a mission.“, Keva bit her tongue to try and keep a grin at bay. „You'll take the lead, Agent Scofield. Junior Agent Lorilee will accompany you. You know how to pilot a spaceship, right?“ her boss was a unblinking Vulcan, his question matter of factly.  
'Piloting a spaceship' was an overestimated, to be fair. They’d get the Janus, which was a two-person-with-room-for-one-if-you-squeezed Shuttle Starfleet had decommissioned four months ago and had been refurbished to be used by the DTI. "Of course, boss."  
The vulcan bowed his head slightly, then answered.  
„You’ll find everything you need in the mission papers. Study them. Departure is at 0600 tomorrow morning.“

„Our own mission!“  
„Yes, Lorilee“, the leveled voice of Agent Scofield tried to calm the barely constraint excitement of her new partner. She had already had a loser look at the mission papers, which had somewhat dampened her excitement. But, yes, of course - A simple temporal rift was exciting at the first time for everyone. She’d certainly never forget her first one, although the experience was somewhat dampened by the fact that Agent Slayton had yawned during the whole trip. She made a mental remark to keep it special for her newbie.

The Department of Temporal Investigation had been founded a year ago as a direct result of the Enterprises frequent intervention in timelines. Keva Scofield had been recruited off at the starfleet graduation ceremony - she was adaptive, quick with her head and prone to improvisations - but that was a story for another time. Starfleet and the DTI usually didn't go well, not even in the departments short history, but Scofield didn't get along well with most of her superiors at the academy so things leveled out somehow. Junior Agent Lorilee on the other hand was the exact opposite of Keva - she was a by-the-book-kid, knew regulations by heart and had a disposition for writing sidelong reports about even the most boring topics. Togetherthey had already proven an ideal team to investigate temporal anomalies, document them and write advisories for exploration vessels like the Enterprise. They had yet to touch the part of the job where they could prod captains and crews alike for possible violations, but the stories about Captain Kirk were already legend. She had once seen him from afar, before they had taken the Enterprise to a five year mission - the resulting work and sheer amount of violations had dampened her fascination for the man somewhat - and deemed him a handsome bastard. They also located temporally displaced persons (or TDPs for short) and helped them integrate into the society as necessary.

* * *

Stardock shone and reflected with a million lights. Metal beasts roamed in this sea of lights and sometimes, just sometimes left earth with a great howl and took to the skies. Lorilee sat next to her older partner in a transport car - all straightened up, her hair in the usual bun, suit straightened. She looked like business, all black trousers, black blouse and black jacket. They nearly looked like Section31, Keva mused, following her own line of thought. Of course she knew nothing about Section31. But since her Department was deemed nearly as mysterious as the Section, well, rumors only grow…

Mission report had stated that the freighter Mercury was lost two weeks ago due to a „sudden temporal rift that ripped the ship apart“ - not her words. It had opened somewhere close to Vulcan space and had been investigated by the Vulcans already, but since it fell into her departments territory, the two of them were sent out to get more specific data then "temporal rift". They should retrieve what they could salvage of the mission log and ship telemetry. They would also look out for Captain Irani and her Vulcan first officer Murik, who’d not been in the escape shuttles when the ship exploded. They’d determine if the pair was simply dead or temporally displaced and, if they could confirm the latter, would arrange at headquarters for all necessary information about their displacement so that they could be picked up by the department. Which hopefully was a point uptime and in the right timestream. But that was for them to work out.  
„Sir.“  
„Yes?“  
„Do you think we’ll find out where that rift lead to.“  
A warm smile spread over Kevas face before she responded, touching the edges of her eyes.  
„Sometimes." she said.It was Lorilees first mission that involved actual temporal phenomena, she reminded herself and tried to remember how she felt just a year ago.  
"But mostly, no. It's a one way trip. If we found quantum information relating to the when that would indicate an entanglement of uptime and present. Entanglements lead to a collapse of timelines into the most probable quantum state."  
Lorilee looked solemn for a second as she drew on her training sessions in temporal physics.  
"It could mean our timeline's changed." she reasoned.  
"And that's what we want to prevent from happening." answered the older agent and grinned proudly.  
  
The transporter came to a halt at their dock and a starfleet Ensign greeted them - he wore engineering red and it complimented his red hair just fine, his green eyes watching them curiously, eyeing the marking of their tricorders. Most people didn’t know how to place them, aside from the fact that they smelled like trouble. In most cases, Keva had to admit to herself, a rather fair assessment.  
„Shuttlecraft Janus has been prepared for your arrival, Agent Scofield.“  
She nodded along. Just as she had expected.  
„It’s been fitted with a new engine and can now hit Warp 3“, the Ensign said with barely contained pride.  
„Sounds wonderful. That’ll cut our trip short a few weeks.“, she grinned. Simple in and out. Dinner on Vulcan, breakfast in San Francisco. Give or take a few weeks.  
„It will, Ma'm. Rations and your equipment are already on board. You have a take off window in twenty minutes.“  
„Thank you, Ensign.“  
They had arrived at their shuttle through the maze of corridors at the dock.  
„I think that will be all.“  
„Have good flight. We’ll see you back in a few weeks.“  
„Aye. Lorilee, pack up. We’ll get on our way.“

* * *

The Janus was tiny compared to the huge Constitution class ships like the Enterprise, which were a living city on their own. The Janus was barely more then a shuttle and just-so warp-capable. She was glad it was. The only other possibility would have been to board a regular starship, divert their course with orders from federation headquarters (all Captains in the fleet just loved it when that happened. It really was a love-hate relationship between her department and bloody starfleet.) and then got out to assess whatever phenomenon had presented itself. This had proven a bad combination in the past, as Starfleet Captains tended to get into this sort of things. Hence the Janus and a couple of other small spacecrafts.  
„All passengers, please take your seats.“ Keva said and her voice bore a slight hint of mockery. They were only two on this ship after all.  
„All life sustaining systems online, thrusters online, navigational computer online and programmed for our destination.“ she took a deep breath and turned around for a second, lifting her eyebrows at Lorilee.  
„You okay?“, she muttered out of protocol. Her partner nodded and even pulled her lips into a small smile. She was afraid, at least a bit.  
„Good.“  
„Firing thrusters in 3 … 2… 1….“  
They took off with the familiar kick of g-forces as they left earths atmosphere.

* * *

Keva was glad that she had taken books and music with her on her PADD. Time was at it’s most curious when two people in a small spacecraft had nothing better to do then humor themselves. She read the mission details for a couple of days in a row until she had memorized them. The mercuries ship stats, important crew members, amount of crew, transported goods. Time and Date of the rift - could they be sure it was a rift? There sensors had confirmed the suspicion but there was always leeway for error. She answered Lorilees questions, which were always on point and only asked when she had pondered the issue on her own for a while. She was pleasant to talk to and both had their psychological training to keep away from each others throats. Another thing one forgot easily about space travel.

Sure, Keva thought, and stared into the bleakness of space outside. On a ship like the Enterprise one may barely notice a difference to living in a small town down on earth. But on a craft like this one had to be made of different material. Something everyone in their department took huge pride in. They were the real pioneers, for sure.

They kept strict shifts with overlapping timeframes to talk, play games or just spent time in each others company. They’d fulfill ship duties (repairs, system tests, there was always something to do on a spacecraft no matter how small), prepare for their mission and sleep. It was a pleasant way to fill time and as day bled into day and converted into weeks and then a month they were almost surprised when the ships computer informed them of their imminent arrival at the rift.

* * *

„It’s easier to look at it, if you don’t look at it.“ Keva moved her face to the side, watching her partner closely. The younger woman furrowed her brow in return ever so slightly, small wrinkles now ruining her perfect display of professionalism. „Look at me, or at your controls and then you got to… well.. side-eye it.“, she continued with her lips curled into half a smirk. She began climbing into her suit. A huge, bulky black thing with her insignia (the UFPs stars, circled by a silver snake biting it's own tail) and an integrated short range communication system as well as state of the art life support systems. The blonde Ensign got up to help her close the various hatches and prop down the helmet.  
„That thing is huge.“, Lorilee muttered while checking the seals.  
Keva chuckled: „Can’t wait for the uptim models. They can only get more practical at this point.“. She carefully moved her arms and legs. It was heavy now, but that was of no concern as soon as she got out into zero gravity.  
„Okay“, Lorilee gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder and left the air lock at once. „Depressurizing now. Stay safe out there, Partner.“

Keva was glad the Boss always insisted on them training in zero grav movement and simulated assignments. He had them in simulations twice a week and in space at least once a month. That way, moving through open space came naturally to her - like swimming, really, without the need to breach the surface. No surface here. Only darkness, gravity and time, forces that formed the web of her known universe. Forces she came out here to face alone. To learn. A surge of pride swelled within her and smiling to herself she navigated to the wreck in front of her. She could feel how close she was to the rift. A primordial force pulling at her suit, her skin, her senses. At the edge of her perception were time and gravity unfolding and collapsing into something barely comprehensible. Awe and fear settled in her gut with the feeling of heavy stones dropped into her stomach and made her tense up.

„Mvala, I’m approaching the wreck of ‚Mercury‘ now. Do you copy?“  
The other woman’s voice buzzed through her comm, overlain with a slight static buzz: „Can see and hear you loud and clear.“  
With one short blast of the suits thrusters Keva maneuvered closer to the wreck, a slain beast, dead and cold, hovering in space until something bigger would claim it. The shock of the opening rift had torn it’s engines apart - and consequently the whole ship. A part of the ships hull was ripped open here, cracked under unimaginable pressure.  
„It looks like were lucky. There’s an opening right here. I think I can get in and hook up to the ships computer from there.“  
„I copy, Scofield.“, her voice seemed to come from a far away distance now, not only the few miles from ‚the Janus' control table to Mercuries wreckage.  
The young agent gripped the edge of the hull and gently fired her suits thrusters once more, using the resulting push to dive into the beasts belly.  
„Communication to the Janus stable, Scofield. Slight interference from the rift. No other life signs despite your own on scanner range.“

Keva nodded to herself and put her feet firmly on the ground. What little Gravity resided around such a small objet - in cosmic proportions - helped her keep her balance to what her mind had identified as ground. She took a deep breath.  
„Keva.“  
Keva carefully moved forward, one step after another. The one thing she, ironically, had in abundance - was time. No need to hurry.  
„Yes?“  
The communication was getting weaker, which was either due to one of Mercurys systems still working and thus interfering with the Janus’ systems - or the rifts energy was surging.  
„I’m getting some strange readings here,“ had her voice gotten a bit shakier or was Keva only imagining. She wondered.  
„There’s … it’s as if I’m getting communications from the ship before it crashed. Energy readings are confusing too.“  
„It’s echoing. Relax and concentrate on our work here. Perfectly normal.“ the connection cracked and rustled. The definition of 'normal' had become somewhat strained after joining the DTI, she mused.

She moved carefully deeper into the wreck - she had already been close to the bridge when she had entered, so it took her only a few minutes until she entered the main control room. Chairs floated serenely in ultimate silence. Pieces of metal and wire, ripped out buttons and consoles strewn all around. A sea of debris and destruction, witness to what events had unfolded here. „Let’s see if we can get you to tell us your secrets“, the young agent muttered to herself, disconnecting a small PADD from the back of her suit and plugging it into the nearest intact console. „Come on, tell me.“

„Partner, are you alright?“  
„I’m nearly done, Lorilee. Anymore echoes or ghosts?“  
„Neither the scientific, nor the spooky ones.“  
Keva chuckled at her partners unexpected display of humor, biting her lower lip to stifle full out laughter.  
„And on your side?“  
„Lots of rubbish. Thankfully no dead people. Just .. rubbish. So far no ghosts, but I’ll get you a present if you want.“  
„You know, Scofield. I think I’m gonna pass.“  
With a grin spread on her face she unplugged her PADD and jammed it back into holding position in her suit. She then turned around and slowly made her way back.  
„I’ve salvaged the ships logs. I’ll deploy the monitoring drones outside and will head back to the Janus afterwards.“  
„Copy that, Scofield. Energy levels outside are within normal range. It is safe to proceed.“

 _When this job here s finished_ , Keva thought and felt a certain pride at that, _I'll have to take Lorilee out for a drink_.  
They were going to be a great team. Her liver would hate her for it, but that was the kind of sacrifice one had to make for a consistent timeline. She shoved her feet over the edge of the broken hull, felt debris crumble under the combined weight of herself and her suit. With one hand still clinging to the hull she turned around for a second. Marveled at the sight before her. There it was again, right in the front of her mind. The gentle pull of the anomaly. It was hard to grasp when confronted directly and, as she had advised Lorilee earlier, it was easier to see if only looked at indirectly.  
With a sigh she turned around again. „Great, I'm out, I’ll now depl-„ shock cut her words off and drained her face of all color.

There was a man.  
That alone would have been outrageous enough.  
But he leant, quite nonchalantly, at the edge of the hull.  
And he was wearing neither suit nor helmet. No life support system of any kind.  
Instead he smiled - it was an almost gentle, no, indulgent expression on his face, were it not for the dark glimmer in his eyes that bore the promise danger.  
„Lorilee, there’s - there’s a man. A living breathing man. Do you copy, Lorilee?“  
Silence greeted her and he shook his head in dismissal.  
„Mvala, do you have a visual of what I see here. Please confirm at once.“  
Only static answered her and she punched her helmet a few times in frustration.  
„Frustrated, my dear?“

She was struck by his voice - an enticingly deep drawl, rich and melodic and unlike anything she’d heard before. And he was right there in front of her. He pushed himself from the edge and walked over to her, possessing the graceful nonchalance a cat would have.

„Now, aren’t we an awful long way from home?“  
„What. Who are you?“ No cat. Something bigger. More dangerous.

He inspected the fingernails on his right hand for a second, as if contemplating her question. All of him seemed right and wrong at once. He sure looked human - tall, at least two heads taller then her, black curls, a grin playing around his lips that just so bore the hint of teeth behind them. His eyes, though. His eyes were dark and intense. She could see the grey of her own eyes reflect in them. She noticed the admirals pipes on his red uniform. Surreal.  
„I?“ he asked with fake bewilderment.  
„There are no other people outside here, so, yes. You.“ the strain on her voice bordered on dangerous now.  
_I hope Lorilee is listening in. Nobody’s gonna believe that_ , she added just to herself. _Not even at my department. That's some Starfleet fuckery right here._  
„Why are humans always so … grave about everything“, he sighed a deep sigh, as if she’d just ruined his perfect sunday evening. „Who are you, what are you, why did you seize my ship.“ he muttered in a mocking voice.  
Keva perked up at that moving her head to look after the shuttle. It was miles away. A stupid reflex.  
„Oh, don’t worry.“, and with a dismissive gesture of his hand, he continued: „She’s alright. I think.“  
„State your name, your species and your business here. Now.“ she hissed, her teeth pressed firmly together.  
He raised one of his eyebrows.  
„Well now, aren’t you something.“  
He bent closer, down to her and his forehead nearly touched the glass of her helmet.  
„Since you clearly are the inferior species here“, she inhaled sharply at that and opened her mouth to disagree strongly, but he only wriggled his index finger in front of her face: „No, no, don’t deny it. You are. Tell me who you are and then we’ll continue. Quid pro Quo.“ His mouth split into a grin now, a wolfish expression one step short of an actual snarl.

Half a dozen questions where begging for attention in her mind right now, racing through her head andmaking it hard to think.  
„It is not fair to expect poor old moi to answer all your inquiring little questions and I get nothing in return. Of course,“ he continued, „I could just have a look at you. Oh, the burden of omnipotence.“ Another deep sigh followed that. Keva felt torn between just letting him talk and see how much she’d find out that way, or get him to shut up somehow.  
„I am Agent Keva Scofield, Federal Department of Temporal Invetigations“  
„Temporal Invetigations!“ he exclaimed, excitement sounding in his voice. He got even closer and she writhed uncomfortably in her suit. Whatever he was, he had no concept of personal space.  
„Well, this could be interesting. Even fun!“ his grin grew broader and she didn’t like it one bit. Her breath caught for a second.  
„Now, Sir. State your name, your species and your business here or I’ll be forced to take you into custody under federation code -„  
She didn’t get further as he started laughing and clapping his knee, exclaiming: „Wonderful. Just wonderful.“  
The temporal agent opened her mouth to say something but found herself at a loss of word at the display of such a gross disregard for her position and rank.  
Only when he straightened himself up again, still looking at her with bewildered amusement, did she speak again:  
„What is your name, your species and why do you interfere with federation business?“  
All bewilderment and amusement fell off him at a once - as if he'd only worn a cloak, a piece of clothing that became unnecessary in this second. Straightening up in front of her he gained a presence of sort that had been suppressed before - the undeniable feeling of something bigger then life moving and breathing right in front of her.  
„I am Q.“, he stated with an air of grandeur about him and a new smile twisted his lips upwards and parted them, showing a hint of teeth.  
„And I don’t interfere“, he added and that uncanny smile spread to his eyes.  
She noticed it too late for what it was: Wicked and dangerous.  
„I just give humanity a little…“ he came close now. So close that she stared down into his dark eyes, a universe on their own. Stared into that face, the wicked and disdainful expression he wore. A hint of curiosity, hidden behind everything else but studying her every movement.  
„Push.“, he whispered and she shuddered as she felt his breath on her ear despite the helmet. And then his hands, shoving her off the wreck and into darkness.

And then she screamed. She screamed as she punched the thruster controls of her suit and nothing happened. She screamed curses as she tumbled away into space, his black eyes following her with amusement. She screamed in panic at first and then in terror as the gravity well of the rift gripped her body tight, pressed down on her muscles painfully, threatened to rip her apart and then ripped her away from space and time as she knew it.

He sat there for a moment and watched, legs dangling from the broken hull of the wreck.  
Then with a snap of his fingers he vanished, smiling to himself.


	2. Unless acted upon by another force

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Scofield learns the true meaning of a 'job hazard' and the Voyager crew makes a surprising discovery.

Uneasiness became fright at the look of his wicked smile.  
Fright became fear at the whisper of his voice.  
Fear became terror at the inevitable.

Gravity gripped down at her body. A force that clenched down on her flesh, crushing and squeezing until she howled with pain - tears streamed down her contorted face, teeth bared in pain and hate and utter terror. Something poured liquid lead into her mouth. The rift burned as it swallowed her whole. It bit down on her, chew, ground her body with forces that were never meant for a human to be endured in just a suit. The gravity well of the temporal rift crushed her bones. The rift and darkness swallowed her, eradicating what it meant to feel warmth and light and human touch. She screamed and whimpered and begged, defenselessly tossed around by an uncaring universe. And then, mercifully, thankfully, graciously - she lost her consciousness, surrounded by nothing at all.

Her temporal tricorder blinked red.

* * *

**Stardate: Unknown**

Gravity was a curious thing. It was the great actor of the universe. That what was and moved and caught and let go.  
In sufficiently empty space anything could be enough mass to attract another object. Be it an asteroid on it’s lonely journey through the universe, or a lost human in it’s space suit. Kevas Life support systems were glowing orange with the soft hum of an early oxygen alert. Were the inhabitant of the suit awake, she would have been able to read instructions on getting back to the nearest shuttle immediately to replenish her oxygen reserves. But Keva Scofield was unconscious, mind and body exhausted and twisted from a trip no human should have survived. Yet, here she was - one object among million floating in endless space. Lost and forgotten to humanity. Only attracted by the next source of mass, like any other object. Driftwood in an ocean designed to kill her. Sooner or later.

She would have died - forgotten and frozen for future explorers to find her, nothing more then a footnote in the books of history - if she hadn’t been dropped in this particular part of space, at this particular moment.  
She would’ve died if the rift had transported her there two weeks earlier - or two weeks later.  
She would’ve died in any other part of the delta quadrant.

But here at this time and place she showed up as a blip on the sensors of an Intrepid Class starship. The ship was nearly as lost as she was, thrown into this part of the galaxy by chance and bad luck.  
Ensign Harry Kim at first thought the blip was just a fidget of his mind, an imagination brought upon by lack of sleep or something he ate at Neelix’ canteen.  
„Captain, short range scanners have registered an organic object.“  
„Really?“  
Janeways voice perked curiously at the notion. „Ensign, run a deep scan on the object.“  
Turning her head to her number one she smiled an agitated smile. „A mystery. How Lovely.“  
„Second scan …“ Kim did not finish his sentence. Instead he stopped himself, did a double take at the results and only then spoke again:  
„Permission to run a third scan for confirmation, Captain.“  
„Ensign Kim, please report and rerun second scan for confirmation.“ she commanded raising her eyebrows ever so slightly.  
„It’s… I’m sorry Captain, but sensors confirm the presence of a humanoid floating in space approximately one hundred clicks ahead of us.“  
A murmur rose on the bridge, ebbed from Ensign Kim away much like the tide and came to a sudden end when the Voyagers Captain rose her voice again.  
„Ensign send coordinates to the transporter room.“, she touched a button on her commanding chair. „Transport room, are the coordinates I just send you within range?“  
A moment of silent followed. Swift fingers scurried over control panels and recalculated energy output, distance, guessed the approximate weight of the object before answering.

„We can beam aboard, Captain.“ - that was B’elanna Torres voice. Sharp and all business.  
„Prepare for transport in one minute.“, Captain Janeway touched another button on the display of her chair. „Bridge to Sickbay, prepare for emergency transport of unknown humanoid and medical assistance.“  
„Aye, Captain“ - it was Kes, gentle and soft immediately mediating the Captains message to the Doctor.  
Expectant eyes lay on Janeways back. She felt the tense atmosphere on the bridge. Every day another adventure, she thought. Whatever they encountered here, whatever they found - they could never be sure if it would prove a simple distraction or a direct threat to the ships and crews safety.  
„Transporter room to bridge, we are ready for transport. Class two containment field is in place.“  
„Beam abord, Lieutenant Torres.“

Silence fell in the transporter room when the object was beamed aboard. Janeways voice had to pierce through the confused haze that had befallen the crew in engineering twice before B’elanna managed to answer her.  
„I’m initiating an emergency transport to sickbay, Captain. It’s … you better have a look for yourself.“  
„Quite a mystery“, Janeway said as she got up. „Number One, you come with me. Tuvok you have the bridge.“

The Doctor and Kes were already at work when Janeway and Chakotay arrived in sickbay. The captain immediately felt her brows furrow in confusion - much like the expression of her Number One.  
„Now, what do we say to that?“  
„You know what I have to say about chance, Captain“, muttered the dark haired man, his eyes practically glued to the form in front of them.  
„Doctor?“ Janeway lifted her voice and the medical hologram didn’t even bother looking up from his patient.  
„All our scans confirm her as a female human.“ he simply stated.  
„I assume that you will want to keep her equipment for scan and research?“  
„You assume correctly, Doctor.“ Janeway answered. She would’ve sounded bemused were it not for the figure on the biobed before her - the spacesuit she wore was not old-fashioned, it was antiquated. She had seen a thing like that in starfleet academy archives. And the women within. She sure wore a uniform of the United Federation, but the overall impression was that of a person that had stepped right out of a holo novel.  
The Doctor transported the body of the human out of her suit onto another biobed. His assistance began immediately to carefully remove the clothes from her body.

„She looks bad“, sad Chakotay close to Janeways right side and she nodded along in confirmation of his assessment. The body in front of them was covered in bruises - dark blue and red splotches on her skin, almost giving the impression of someone only related to modern humans. Where she was not bruised, petechia covered her, giving the distinct impression of her skin glowing. Her right ankle was twisted in an unnatural angle and dried blood covered her face and had her short hair in dirty tangles. The list of visible injuries didn’t end there - in short, she was in a miserable condition.  
„Can you say what has happened to her, Doctor?“  
„Massive trauma“, he answered - which was more then a bit vague.  
„I must confess I am not quite sure what would cause such a massive trauma. Her body must have endured extreme pressure.“ he continued calmly while directing Kes at the same time.  
„It will take a few days, but I expect her to make full recovery.“ was his last addition after which he focused back on his patient.  
"Looks like we’ll have to quell our curiosity for just a few days more. Mr. Paris will collect the suit and her equipment later, he has a knack for antiques. Maybe he can tell us more.“

* * *

It was loud outside her mind.  
She didn’t want to wake, not yet.  
As soon as she had passed out what was left of her awareness had fled from terror and pain into the relative comfort of her memories.  
She was sitting on a large boulder, overlooking a red skyline with Junior Agent Lorilee at her side. Silver trees littered the horizon.  
Were they on a training trip?  
She couldn’t say with certainty.  
But the lights and the voices outside her mind were so loud, so intrusive, diluting the peace of her deep sleep.  
Maybe she was dead. Maybe she was hallucinating her last seconds, her scared consciousness stretching moments into eternity to avoid the inevitable.

„Elevated alpha waves indicate she’ll awake within the next few minutes.“  
„We’ll learn more about our mysterious Jane Doe.“  
Two male voices, discussing. One of them very matter-of-factly, the other almost … cheerful. And a female voice, one that demanded respect, a dark timbre in contrast to everyone else.  
Keva shifted slightly.  
A faint trace of pain shot through her leg and she groaned.  
Could she be alive?  
There was no way she could have survived that and yet … here she seemed to be. Surrounded by voices and light and life.  
„Gentleman, give her room to wake up. Everyone that is not my Number One, Tom Paris and the sickbay crew is dismissed.“  
So a ship had picked her up. Her mind started to pick up speed. Slowly. Very slowly in fact, but better then never again.  
„Her breathing indicates that she is awake.“  
„Thank you, Doctor.“ the female voice said, maybe a notch too pointedly. Feet shuffled in the background.  
God, it was so bright.  
Carefully, slowly she pried her eyes open, lifted her right hand in an attempt to block out the light. Another moan escaped her mouth involuntarily. Every muscles hurt and ached as if she’d run a marathon that had ended with her in a junk press.  
How was she alive. That was impossible. A gross violation of the laws of physic.  
Her eyes took their sweet time to adapt to their surroundings and she blinked for a long moment until the shapes and colors in front of her fell into a sensible form.  
There was a woman in a red uniform - a sleek design, fitted tightly around her slender body. Next to her a man with short black hair, a tattoo covered part of his face and his inquiring eyes followed every moment closely. He stood close to the woman. Kevas gaze hovered further - another man, clad in a blue uniform of the same design, almost bald and checking the readings on what was perhaps a PADD. Her doctor, she thought. Next to her bed was another woman - a small delicate creature maybe a head shorter then Keva herself was. Something about her was odd and she made a mental note to enquire about her species later. Maybe some Vulcan hybrid.  
Lastly there was another man - taller then the other two with light blond hair and a confident, no, cocky expression to himself. She blinked a few more times, looking back to the woman who had her arms crossed in front of her chest, head cocked lightly in an expression of restrained curiosity.

„Welcome back to the living and aboard the USS Voyager.“ her voice was pleasant to listen to, if a bit unusual at first. It was a voice that was used to the burden of command and it made her feel at safety almost immediately.  
Starfleet, the young agent concluded and suppressed a groan.  
„USS Voyager…“ Kevas voice croaked hoarsely. She coughed a few times and almost at once the petite young woman handed her a glass of water, which she eagerly drank.„I am Captain Janeway. My Number One - Chakotay and Mr. Paris. The Doctor and Kes have been attending to your health over the last week.“  
Keva nodded to each of them, only pondered a second over thestrange introduction as ‚The Doctor‘ and then looked around some more. Everything was off. Uncertainty settled in her gut. Everything here was polished. The uniforms strange. Had she been picked up by an experimental vessel?  
„Is this …“ the young woman stopped herself to remind herself of manners. „I am sorry, Captain. I am Keva Scofield.“ she said then and offered a weak smile as an excuse for her near Faux Pas. Should she disclose her affiliation just yet? She couldn’t remember protocol. Everything she knew and held dear was still in that heavy fog surrounding her.  
„It is our pleasure to have made your acquaintance.“ the Captain smiled kindly in return. It was almost motherly.  
„I am sorry to intrude upon your ship and have taken up a place in your sickbay.“ Keva continued, now very careful, her eyes once more wandering through the unsettling room. Everything was off just enough to make her wonder.  
„Are you…“ taking a deep breath, she collected herself once more. It was difficult to decide which question to forward first.  
„Can you provide me with a secure channel to federation headquarters?“ she then asked and provided her most convincing smile. „I’ll gladly explain everything afterwards.“

There was little more as unsettling as a group of people exchanging knowing glances without being part of said group. The woman actually sat down on the edge of her bed now, her grey eyes searching Kevas face with caution.  
„I am afraid that won’t be possible, Mrs. Scofield.“  
„Agent.“, the young woman snapped and almost immediately regretted it. There was no reason to be irritated at the Captain, she told herself.  
„It’s .. Agent Scofield, Captain.“  
Great. Another starfleet captain with whom she was off to a very good start. Before the captain, or anyone else really, could open their mouth she spoke up once more: „Captain, are you on a five year mission? Where is the next communication relay?“  
„Relays?“ the tall young man muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Keva to hear.  
„There is no contact to the Federation or Starfleet command. It must sound strange to you, but we are stranded in the Delta Quadrant.“  
Keva blinked once.  
Keva blinked twice.  
Stupefied silence was all that left her lips. The delta quadrant? Impossible.  
„Delta“, she muttered then and eyed them all once more, with more suspicion then before. The hair, the uniforms, the room that was somehow off. Her breath quickened enough for the Doctor to look over to her.  
„This must be very difficult for you to process.“ the Captain continued with a soft voice.  
„Delta Quadrant.“, the agent muttered once more, pressing her lips together until all that remained was a thin white line. She drew a couple of heavy breaths through her nose.  
„Doctor, her heart rate is elevated, oxygen levels are dropping.“ Kes whispered to the Doctor, her face concerned now.  
Keva took another deep breath, her nostrils flaring.  
„Captain… starfleet has not advanced to the Delta quadrant.“  
And then she looked around again and slowly the pieces of this puzzle fell into place. It struck her, right into the chest, like a phaser hitting her in full force.  
„Keva… what stardate is right now?“ the woman with the grey eyes didn’t even mind the use of her first name right now.  
The young agent knew what was coming next. She dreaded it.  
„Doctor…“ the blonde alien began again, but the Doctor lifted his hand to cut her off, shaking his head. He knew and monitored the castaway closely.  
Keva drew on her training. Deep breaths. Counting. Her hands shook and before she could do something about it the older woman put a hand on her shoulder. The weight of it was comforting. Anchoring her in reality.  
„It’s August the 15th.“  
Another deep breath.  
„2271. A tuesday.“  
Another exchange of looks between the group. How far uptime was she? Ten years? Twenty?  
The Doctor walked over to them. God, they knew. They knew. She looked up into the Captains eyes, into those warm eyes, barely hiding the pity she felt for her. She counted to four while breathing in. Held for a second. Waiting for the final blow. And then slowly counted to eight while breathing out again.  
„I am so sorry … Agent.“ the Captain paused for a second.  
Sorry. She wanted to spew the word back to the captain, but what had that woman done to her? No. It was a job hazard. Came with the description of her position.  
_Thirty years?_  
The thought crossed her anxious mind completely uninvited.  
„But the current year is 2372.“  
 _A hundred years._

„Oh.“ she could feel her heart skip a beat.  
„Do you remember what happened?“  
 _A hundred years uptime._  
Scofield burst into a humorless barking laughter that nobody joined into. The contraction of her muscles was painful to endure and tears welled up in her eyes, real but involuntarily. She was temporally displaced.  
_No. Not only that._  
She stopped laughing as suddenly as she had started and looked into all those concerned faces around her. The pain that lingered in her bones and muscles despite the medication she had undoubtedly received felt strangely real and comforting.  
She was also displaced in the most traditional sense of the word - completely cut off from her friends and family, from her home, her planet - her quadrant even.  
 _A hundred fucking years uptime._  
Still owing the Captain an answer, she began to explain.  
„I am from the Federation Department of Temporal Investigation.“  
A few eyebrows were raised, which was oddly reassuring as it probably meant that the DTI was still kicking about.  
„Me and my partner were sent out to investigate a time rift a few parsec from vulcan space. The freighter mercury was destroyed and it’s Captain and First Officer were missing.“  
She carefully watched the expression of her listeners, but nobody seemed to recognize the name mercury. Which probably meant that they were displaced somewhere else. An unstable rift?  
She filed the information back for later, threw that bit onto the ever growing pile of thoughts demanding a closer inspection.  
„I collected the telemetry logs from mercury and then went out to … deploy the monitoring drones to get chronitonic readings on the rift.“  
„You got too close to the gravity well of the rift?“ the tall blonde asked, a little bit too eager for her taste.  
Keva gasped, as if she just remembered herself, feeling the shock once again.  
„I was pushed.“  
The Doctor cleared his throat pointedly.  
„Pushed?“ Chakotay raised his voice now in surprise.  
„Pushed“ confirmed the agent once again and rubbed her temples.  
„By a man. There was a man on the ship.“  
The Doctor cleared his throat once more.  
"I think it is time for my patient to rest.“ he put a heavy emphasis on the ‚I think‘.  
The captain rose from Kevas bed unwillingly.  
„Yes, I think that should be enough for today. Tomorrow…“ she exchanged a look with the Doctor.  
„I’ll be back tomorrow. Rest well, Agent Scofield. If you have any questions … we’ll answer all your questions tomorrow.“  
The Doctor scooted them all out of her room now, looking thoroughly disapproving of the whole situation and the additional stress everyone had put his patient under. But Keva Scofield had already fallen back into a deep, dreamless sleep.  
 _A hundred years._

* * *

„Mr. Paris.“ prompted Janeway once they were outside. „I understand you had no luck in extracting any information from her equipment?“  
„It was pretty beat up, Captain.“ he shrugged apologetically.  
„Which does not surprise me any more, to be honest with you.“  
„Hm.“ Janeway nodded and glanced over to Chakotay who seemed to be waiting for her to make a decision.  
„Go over her equipment again with Lieutenant Torres. See what you can salvage. I have a feeling we’re not through yet.“  
„I will get right to work.“  
With Mr. Paris gone, Chakotay seized his captain up once more.  
„You think someones intervening here?“  
She nodded grimly.  
„She’s from a hundred years in the past. And conveniently drops in the delta quadrant right in scanner range? A little too convenient for my taste.“  
„You’re right“ he conceded.  
They both walked down to the bridge in silence for a moment.  
„This is going to be tough for her. Keva. She looks like she's barely out of her twenties.“  
The dark haired man sounded thoughtful.  
„We'll have to be gentle.“  
Janeway bowed her head in agreement, sounding equally thoughtful.  
„How should we tell the crew?“  
She turned her head to look at him.  
„We had Tom in the room and nothing was declared confidential yet.“ Chakotay mused.  
„If you don’t intervene, Neelix will want to interview her for his news program come tomorrow morning.“  
The captain chuckled at the thought.  
„We should prevent that.“  
„Yes. Yes we should.“  
Both laughed for a moment and then entered the bridge.

„Tuvok, to my ready room please. Chakotay, take the bridge.“


	3. Entropy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Keva has an unwanted and unexpected visitor and she decides how to continue her journey.  
> Janeway is prepared and surprised by her bullheaded addition to the crew.

**Stardate: 49325.1**  
**April 28, 2372**  
**A Friday**

 

Darkness held her in its comfortable envelope only for so long before she began to stir in uneasy dreams. She was floating in space again. Coldness and Darkness pressing against the helmet of her spacesuit as she swirled down into the mouth of the rift. Her drift was accompanied by the undeniable sensation of falling. Falling down and apart at the same time. Looking down into the mouth of physical hell and then looking up to watch herself fall down.  
It was all an effect of extreme physics pulling at her senses - different quantum states conflating and collapsing in quick succession until the most probable state settled in.

_But the most probable?_

She stirred again in her sleep, white fingers clawing into her sheets, digging her fingernails into the very biobed she was lying on.  
She saw the most probable states pass her again and again in a never-ending loop - her body crushed and pulled apart, forever locked in stasis. Shroedingers cat alive and dead and ultimately aware of itself. Ripped apart and kept together until the universe would eventually collapse on itself.  
Gravity was greedy. What it took into it’s hold it did not part with easily.  
Degraded to being a mere spectator at her own demise all that she felt in a million different timelines washed over her, bombarded her selves until tears welled up in her eyes once more.  
  
She lay on her biobed crying. Her heart rate elevated but not enough to force the holographic Doctor into existence at night, she dreamt a dream of thousand nights to come.  
  
And he was there. Watching curiously as her body warped and her mind held unto the training that had intended to prepareher for a situation such as this. Intense lessons that were designed by vulcan scientists to will a person to withstand the counterintuitive reality each agent would face in their lifetime. Some broke. Some left the training and never came back.  
  
Flying - Falling - scattered atoms in a vast cosmos. A hand grabbed her shoulder hard. She awoke with a yelp.  
  
Keva was alone. A machine next to her bed was humming its monotone song all by itself. The lights were dimmed down to an absolute minimum and all other beds were empty. She lifted her hand and rubbed her forehead only for it to come back with cold sweat.

_It’s okay._

She tried taking a deep breath - one of those forcing air deep down into the lungs until it hurt.  
It was just a dream.  
_A memory._  
_Past._  
The thought lingered on for a moment, prompted a question about what past was - and was quickly shoved to the side. It would do no good to ponder over that question right now. Later.  
_There are a lot of questions I’ll have to attend to later._  
Neither the Doctor nor his assistance were in sight and the young agent assumed they’d gotten to bed in their quarters, although it struck her as unusual to leave sickbay and patience unattended at night. At least in her opinion, for what it was worth - how could she know how protocols had changed in a hundred years.  
„Look who’s awake.“ A shiver ran down her spine at the sound of the deep voice coming from inside all directions at once.

„You“, Keva exclaimed louder then she had intended to. Her voice was raw and she heard a tremble in it and despised herself for it.  
„Moi!“ the owner of said voice stepped out of the shadows of a corner. A place he couldn’t have been a mere second ago. It was simply impossible. He grinned a flashing grin and threw his hands into the air as if greeting an old friend from afar.  
„How long has it been dear agent? A hundred years? A hundred and two?“ he asked cheerily and stepped over to her bed with two long strides.

Keva Scofield hated puns and jokes related to time and this one was like rubbing salt into her open wounds. She groaned as she heaved herself into an upright position and ignored the pain that seemed to radiate from every inch of her body and directly into the nerves behind her right eye.  
„I will murder you in your sleep.“ she spat. Her heart rate monitor started to beep dangerously.  
„Good thing I don’t sleep then“, he quipped and eyed her for a moment. Disgust flickered across his face.  
„How.“ Agent Scofield felt her teeth grinding against each other. She could not resist to turn her head to follow him with her eyes as he started to circle her bed in an overtly casual manual.  
„I saved your life. Aren’t you grateful to your benevolent god?“ his voice was dripping with pride and she utterly resented it with every fiber of her being.  
„You pushed me.“ her hand shot forward in a sudden motion as he came back from circling behind her and her fingers clasped around his underarm. It was like gripping a running power line and she immediately drew back, yelling out in pain. All that remained of her touch was the bloody imprint of her fingers on his uniform. The young agent stared at him and then back at her hand. At cuts that had been carefully closed for healing and that were now bleeding again.  
„How dare you“ exclaimed the omnipotent as he assessed the mess on his uniform. With a mere snap of his fingers his uniform was impeccably clean again.  
„How unsanitary.“ he muttered and cocked his head ever so slightly. Instead of taking his distance from her he sat down next to her, uninvited. His eyes were searching her face, for what she didn’t know.  
„It really is true. No good deed goes unpunished.“  
A deep sigh followed as if carrying a heavy burden all by himself.  
„Good deed.“ the brown headed woman repeated. Her voice sounded hollow at the statement. Unbelieving. She had reigned in her temperament enough to refrain from immediate violence. At least for the moment.  
„Indeed.“ he straightened the sheet covering her legs casually with his slender hands and she felt herself tense up against her will.  
„You pushed me into a fucking time rift.“  
„Am I listening to a record on repeat here? Is that all that matters to you right now?“ he sighed, obviously bored by her choice of topic already. „Look at all the opportunities you get here! New people, new quadrant, new century. What an exciting change of scenery!“

His eyes roamed the room.  
„Not this perhaps. And not for me, of course. I’ve seen all the millennia there are. But for your little ape brain…“ he did not finish the sentence instead leading the tips of his thumb and his middle finger pressed together to his lips as if tasting a delicacy.  
„I am temporally displaced.“ Keva spoke up again, but weakly this time and just so overcoming her speechlessness. „This is one of the worst violations of the temporal directive I know. And I worked on Kirks file.“  
He quirked his eyebrows curiously, amused. It was as if he was watching a toddler trying to wrestle him into submission. His look was oh so condescending and she could feel that temper of her flare again.  
„There are no temporal directives for an omnipotent“ he chuckled slightly. Even the simple idea of rules seemed to be out of his grasp.  
„Oh, and who has declared that?“ she raised her chin defiantly.  
„Well, the only person with any authority and, if you don’t mind me saying, competence to decide.“ he flashed a million dollar smile at her. „Good ol’ me.“

Keva Scofield actually snapped for air at the tremendous amount of pomp and ego presented to her. Lifting her chin even higher, she stared right back into the darkness of his eyes. Challenging.  
„I will personally arrest you, bring you to the DTI, so that you can stand trial for your crime.“

„Handcuffs and all?“ his voice was filled to the brim with shaking amusement and he stared right back at her - mustered those grey determined eyes, ready and unflinching in the face of … well … him. And then he laughed, again, loud and passionately. He produced a bouquet of roses from his back and set it down on his back before he got up slowly.  
„This is going to be so much fun.“ he sounded almost giddy at the thought of it. „I am almost tempted to peek at futureyou. Skip right to the best part, mon cher.“ And then he grinned and snapped his finger and was gone with a flash of light.  
Agent Keva Scofield sat with her mouth gaping open - and filed another violation to her list of his misdeeds in her mind, trying to ignore the overbearing amount of flowers on her bed.

* * *

„Oh, you had a visitor. Strange. My sensors should have detected any person entering sickbay.“  
Keva snapped back to attention and stared at the doctor.  
She opened her mouth to speak, reconsidered and carefully shoved the roses to a distance. It was impossible for her to tell how much time had passed since the omnipotents arrival and departure.  
„An unwanted visitor, yes.“ she muttered to herself. A second passed in which the Doctor stepped over to her. Medbays lights slowly came up at the same time and she wondered shortly wether it was incidental or just a routine on this ship.  
„Could you … get rid of those roses for me? I don’t know… burn them. Throw them out of an airlock. Something that sets a statement.“ her voice was sharp enough to cut glass and the Doctor hurried to pick up the bouquet with care.  
„If you have unwanted guests please inform me and I will restrict their access to sickbay for the remainder of your stay.“ he answered coolly, turning the flowers in his hands.  
„I doubt he belongs to your ship“ the young woman straightened herself some more, exercising the care she deemed necessary in her current situation.  
„If this is true we need to bring it up with our chief of security, Mr. Tuvok, as well as Captain Janeway herself. Intruders aboard are a sensitive topic for Voyager.“  
She wondered if he was part vulcan. Something about his manner was overstudied, too on point to be actually natural. She couldn’t exactly pinpoint it, but something about him tipped her off.  
„It’s a pity“, he continued as he turned the roses over in his hands. „According to my databases these are de la Grifferaie. Which is actually impossible.“

With her voice raised she interrupted him: „Your … what again?“  
„My databases.“ he repeated, while walking to his desk and putting the flowers down. „Being from the 23rd century you can’t know that. I am a holographic doctor.“ the hologram turned around to make his way back to her bed.  
„But I can assure you that I am as much part of this crew and as respected as any biological crew member on Voyager.“ his voice was filled to the brim with pride as he continued and, while talking, arrived at her bed to study the readings of her beds systems.  
„You’re not real then?“ she inquired, carefully studying his features. His brow furrowed slightly, in a way that made her feel slightly guilty for asking.  
_Way to put your foot in your mouth, Keva._  
„As far as you are concerned, I am as real as any other member of the crew, Mrs. Scofield.“

Her lips pressed down into a thin line and she decided it was for the best to let him finish his work for the moment, lest she found another way to affront him.  
That way they both inhabited the medbay in silence, with minutes passing without any of them raising their voice again. To Keva it was an uncomfortable silence brought about by her clumsy curiosity at the doctor. For him, she wasn’t sure. After the first passing irritation - or what she had interpreted as irritation - he had settled back in checking her readings and consulting some display on her bed.  
„Your hand.“ he prompted her so suddenly that she nearly jumped out of her bed.  
„My..“ she began, but instead of finishing the sentence just offered him the hand she had touched the Q with. It was crusted with blood again.  
„Unusual.“ the doctor proclaimed, turning her hand in his. He felt just normal. Like any other human.  
„I will go over this with the dermal regenerator again.“  
She just nodded along as he spoke and watched him get the regenerator and apply it to her hand. Her face went through a quick succession of expressions ranging from amazement to uncertainty.  
„That… doesn’t hurt as much as it did back in my time.“ she offered a weak smile.  
He raised his eyebrows at her for a second, then focused back on her hand. For someone who thought themselves as good as dead being touched felt oddly comforting - be it holographic or not. She wondered: Was inquiring about his technology considered inappropriate?  
„All you should feel is a slight tingle. Perhaps an itching sensation.“  
She watched as the open cuts sealed under the blueish light.

„When I was still at the academy…“ she began, but it was barely a whisper - more to herself, then to convey any real meaning to the doctor. „I got hurt during combat training. Really stupid. I slipped on a mat and crashed face first into my opponent. Had to get dermal regeneration too. Hurt like hell.“ Another weak smile, now caught by his concerned look at her face.  
„So you are a member of starfleet after all.“ came a female alto from the door and made the both of them look up to her.  
„Ah, Captain. I just finished checking up on my patient. You can attend to her now but I’m afraid she’s not allowed to leave the medbay just yet.“  
„Yes, Doctor. Thank you.“ the older woman said as she walked over to the Agent, bearing a kind smile. This time her entourage didn’t follow her around. They probably had to work.  
„Until I graduated, yes.“ Keva solely responded to keep the conversation going - and avoid another blunder this early in her morning. The captain took a detour from her way to the occupied bed to what looked like a square hole in the wall. „Do you want anything in the morning? Coffee? Tea?“  
„Coffee.“ Keva watched the Captain carefully as she approached the square and stopped right in front of it. Did they have a food dispenser in sickbay?  
„Please.“ she added to that and with a nod and a ‚One coffee please, black‘ said coffee, mug included, appeared with an orange shimmer in the square.  
„Our replicator energy is limited, but you skipped six days of your rations and a mug of coffee won’t hurt.“ the captain smiled at her, now finally walking over to Kevas bed and setting the mug down on a table next to the bed.  
„Replicator.“ Keva repeated and felt stupid increasingly stupid - just repeating whatever novelty she encountered, like a parrot.   
„They look like food dispenser. Do they work on voice command?“  
„Yes. But we do have a kitchen - you will get to know Neelixcanteen and food soon enough, no need to hurry.“

There was the shimmer of a smirk in the Captains eyes, a glint of amusement barely held back. Janeway had decided to skip on Neelix being a Talaxian - her stowaway wouldn’t know where to put him anyway, or how to picture him and she had the distinct feeling that a hundred years of catch up where enough for Keva to deal with for now. She had decided to skip on a lot of things, actually.  
Keva took the mug with shivering hands and nipped at the drink. It tasted just like the real thing.  
„That’s good.“ her lips curled into an honest, thankful smile.  
„I have asked my security officer to compose a file of important developments over the last hundred years.“ the Captain pulled a small PADD from her belt and put it where the mug had stood before.  
„It hardly covers anything. I’ve asked him to focus on things you absolutely need to know - wars, technological advancements, species and diplomatics.“  
Keva took another sip from her mug. The bitter fluid left a warm feeling in her gut. She simply nodded along as the captain was talking, throwing only a short look at the PADD itself.  
„It starts with an introduction on anything you might encounter on this ship. Especially.“ the Captain cleared her throat as if trying to gather a few more seconds to carefully formulate what she was about to say.  
„Especially our Klingon crew members."  
The expression on Kevas face fell into consternation, then shock and soon after a carefully crafted image of composure.  
„Your what now?“ she asked nonetheless, lowering the mug into her lap.  
„Klingons are part of the federation now. You’ll find everything in the file and I am sure you’ll get used to it sooner then you can imagine.“

The captains little speech only earned her a suspicious look from the agent.  
„Now, read this whenever you feel like it. You have been assigned quarters. Tom will show you to them as soon as the Doctor declares you’re good to go.“  
„Which won’t be today.“ came the Doctors voice from his desk. He seemed inclined on reminding them that he was still present in the room and listening.

Janeway just smiled and Keva, now again nipping at her mug of coffee wondered if she could grow to like this woman and her warm smile. The way she carried herself around. She was starfleet, through and through. The agent could practically feel the starfleet vibes in her bones.  
She let the gaze of her grey eyes drop down onto the mug and watched the sloshing liquid that was left in it.  
„Captain.“ she then began, followed by another one of those deep breath that seemed to become a bad habit for her lately.  
„Yes, Agent Scofield?“  
„The man. I told you about.“ Keva lifted her gaze again to watch the woman now. „He pushed me into the rift, back downtime. He’s responsible for me being here.“ She felt how the terror crept up on her again. Could see that same terror reflected in the other woman’s eyes.  
„Keva…“  
„My .. systems failed. I don’t know why. Or how. Contact to the Janus, our ship, broke. The thrusters of my suit didn’t work anymore. I …“ Another deep breath, this time to calm herself. To shove the memory away, capsulate it into a corner of her mind to be investigated, not felt, not heard, not experienced. Not right now.  
„I’m so sorry, Keva.“ once again the Captain put her hand on Kevas, trying to reassure her of her safety here.  
„Do you know who this man was?“  
„That’s it, you know. He was here. Last night. He brought me flowers.“ the young agent watched concern grow in Janeways face. Wrinkles and deep furrows appearing where smooth skin had been before.  
„He says his name is Q.“  
Now there was something else in Janeways expression - the furrows intensified as her mouth fell open, then closed again and opened once more. She hit the badge on her chest. „Tuvok, alert all security personnel to yellow alert. I want a heightened security presence on all decks and be informed of all unusual occurrences."  
„Understood, Captain.“ the answer was swift and precise. The leveled baritone voice had something distinctly vulcan about it.  
„Janeway out.“  
The captain tapped her badge again. Keva could not help herself but feel impressed by the military efficiency of it all. She had hated starfleet, but there was no denying that whatever these people did, it miraculously tended to work out.  
„Q…“ Janeway sneered with bared teeth. It was comfortable to see that she was not alone with her feeling of resentment against this creature.  
„So you got caught in one of his perverse games. I am sorry for that.“

Agent Keva Scofield remained silent for a moment, pondering over the sympathy of the - her? - captain. She then shook her head very slowly, deliberately and clenched her teeth. Her eyes locked with those of the Captain, determined and passionate to a fault.  
„No, Captain Janeway. Don’t pity me. I will arrest this man and bring him in for temporal trial.“  
Janeway stared at her in stunned silence.


	4. Somewhere across the sea of time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The theme song is "Who is She" by I, Monster
> 
> We're off, visiting the DTI and the agents themselves!

**Stardate 49332.3**  
**May 1, 2372**  
**A Monday**

 

**Greenwich,Federation Department of Temporal Investigations**

Laarin Andos felt an interestingly human desire to pace the floor of her office while waiting. She felt agitated, confused, full of sorrow and joy at once. There were enough emotional stimuli to occupy a good part of her Rhandaarite brains to catalogue and process all that went through her mind in a process too complex for humans to process.  
She’d been director of the Department of Temporal Investigations for almost three years now. And yet she had never anticipated … no. She had almost forgotten about it. Almost, since she never really forgot really, but this was so distant, so far away downtime in her past that she had barely bothered thinking about it again.  
She could hear steps now in front of her office and yet didn’t move, her arms crossed behind her back thoughtfully. She just listened as the door opened and two pairs of shoes stepped, stepped, stepped and came to a halt at her table.  
  
„Agent Lucsly. Agent Dulmur.“, she greeted, turning around to face them both and gesturing for them to sit down. The men in black suits follower her invitation. Lucsly, the older, dark haired man folding his hands in his lap and just waiting. Anticipating.  
Dulmur was younger, somewhere in his early forties. He wore his blonde hair an inch longer then Lucsly and expressed less of his partners robotic precision. Instead he leant back in his chair, eyeing her curiously.  
The Rhandaarite offered a smile to both of them before she sat down herself and began to explain.  
„I have a case involving internal matters for the both of you and I want my best agents to be working on it with highest priority.“  
Dulmur perked at her wording of ‚internal matters‘, it was subtle but she caught it. Of course she did.  
„I have prepared two files for you, they are available to you from now on.“  
They both grabbed their PADDs and started flicking through those files.  
„It’s a strange chroniton reading several parsec from Vulcan.“, Lucsly stated merely. It was his partner, bolder on assumptions then he was, who pressed the matter.  
„That’s hardly an ‚internal matter‘, isn’t it?“  
  
Laarin smiled, gesturing for them to read on but Lucsly had already caught up - that or his uncanny knowledge of the DTIs archive had caught up with him.  
„No, it’s not.“ he flicked further through his file, watched by two pairs of curious eyes. One knowing, the other expectant.  
„There was an incident before on those coordinates.“  
Dulmur frowned, now staring down at his own copy of the file.  
"But that was a hundred years ago.“  
„A hundred years and 13 days, a tuesday.“, added Lucsly drily, his curiosity spiked for those who were able to see it.  
„Correct. One-Hundred and thirteen days ago we lost one of our first human agents. The first human agent after the foundation of the Department as we know it today.“  
Laarin tapped onto a corner of her table and the picture of a woman appeared on the wall next to her table.  
„Agent Keva Scofield.“, Lucsly nodded slowly as he turned around in his chair, studying her features as carefully as he had studied the file before. Dulmur merely raised  
his eyebrows.  
„We lost her? How?“  
„She was sent to investigate a time anomaly near vulcan - you will find the exact coordinates in your file. They also match our new anomaly.“  
A moment of silence settled between the agents. When it came to time, there was rarely a coincidence like this.  
„She and her Junior Agent were sent to gather data from a ship wreck. A freighter named Mercury. All but the Captain and the first Officer were saved, the latter were never accounted for.“  
The agents nodded again, solemnly now.  
„What happened?“  
„Hm.“ Laarin said, not answering at once but seemingly pondering the question while staring at the picture of the women before them.  
„We don’t know. Junior Agent Lorilee was aboard the surveillance shuttle Janus at the time and quit her duty shortly after. Her communication link to Agent Scofield broke down, when it came back up neither her or her equipment were to be found. No visual.“  
„She was … out in space?“ Dulmur frowned.  
„Things were more primitive back in the day, Agent Dulmur.“ Laarin answered and sounded gentle.  
„What do we expect there?“ asked Lucsly, his gaze now on the director.  
„Agent Scofield, at best. Temporally displaced, yes, but alive. It was always assumed that she had been taken by the rift.“  
  
The older man frowned now, his brows furrowed.  
„The gravity force of the rift alone, Director …“  
Laarin raised a hand, cutting the man short with what resembled some sort of sad smile.  
„Let an old lady dream for once, Gariff.“  
Agent Lucslys lip curled, but he said nothing. It was Dulmur instead, who carefully asked:  
„Did you know her, Director? Can you tell us something about her?“  
„Barely, Agent Dulmur.“ she said.  
„Not much more then you’ll find in your files anyway. I was assigned to Greenwhich, she was working in the san Francisco Branch office, which was newly founded.“  
The Rhandaarite leant back in her chair now, both watching her agents and staring at a place far downtime.  
„Offices there were barely more then three rooms in a cellarreally. Agent Keva had been recruited from starfleet.“  
She had anticipated the looks on the agents faces.  
„That was a thing, back then. She didn’t fit in with starfleet, but of course knew how they operated. Bright young women, finished training. She was a little more prone to …“ Laarin bowed her head somewhat.  
„Well, she’s more inclined to spontaneity then we are today. Probably would’ve hated to admit that, but she was starfleet material after all.“  
Agent Lucsly and Agent Dulmur exchanged a telling look. It was a look that made Laarin smile, reminded her of how primitive even the subtlest of human communications was.  
„Don’t misjudge her, gentleman. Read her file. She was a good agent and we owe it to her to look into this. She was one of us.“  
„Of course, Director.“  
„We’ll get right to work.“  
They both got up and left and Laarin stared at the projected imagine on her office wall for a second more, then tapped her table again. The picture vanished.

Marion Dulmur stared at the picture of the young woman while their pilot prepared their shuttle for take off. Lucsly had memorized the file and was working through additional files - DTI history from 2372, comparing the quantum locked files with what their own report and knowledge told them, checking for diversions in timelines and discontinuities.  
„She looks so young.“, Dulmur muttered to himself. The picture of her was the one taken when she entered DTI services. There was only one other picture of her attached to the file: Starfleet graduation. She wore a blue uniform. A young lieutenant Junior Grade, Science division. Her dark brown hair was cut short, a wild mess under a ceremonial hat. Strong lines captured a round face and a pointy noise. Grey eyes looked at the viewer from under skeptical brows - she looked like she was half joking, half trying her best to keep a professional facade for the occasion. If someone had asked him, he wouldn’t have placed her in the DTI. She was young and determined and ready to take over the world in that picture, nearly a hundred years ago.

"Junior Agent Lorilee quit services after the ‚Vulcan incident‘, just as the director said.“ Lucsly interrupted Dulmurs dark musings and ripped him away from that picture back into what accounted for a now.  
„Did you doubt her?“, Dulmur quipped, but his partner didn’t answer, instead just continuing his train of thought.  
„She could never give an answer as to what had happened, instead changed careers … yes, two kids. Died four years ago.“  
„Pretty young to be dead.“  
„Yes.“ Lucsly answered and simply made a mental note to himself.  
„Very convenient.“  
They exchanged another look before Lucsly moved his attention back to the file.  
„I have a feeling that this will be a long one.“ said Dulmur, ignoring his partners look for bringing up his ‚gut-feeling‘. Lucsly was a man of facts. More so then any other Agent Dulmur had ever known.  
„If she slipped into the temporal rift, the gravity would have torn her apart.“  
Lucsly highlighted a picture on his PADD, handing it over toDulmur. It depicted the space suit she’d been wearing as well as her general equipment.  
„That’s what I call old fashioned“, Dulmur said and whistled through his teeth.  
„Even with modern equipment surviving a trip through a time rift without a spaceship is … unlikely.“  
Lucsly took his PADD over to himself again and began reading again. Dulmur followed his example, although he doubted there was a lot more they could findin the files. This case was more archeology then anything else.  
  
**Vulcan space**

„Chroniton readings are within parameters to be expected.“  
„You can even see the thing.“  
„Unusual.“ Lucslys fingers danced over the chroniton readers settings, capturing the fluctuations right before them for thirty seconds, then looked up again.  
„I am sending these to headquarters right away.“  
„Scanners are indicating some small pieces of .. debris … right at the center, Agents.“ their space craft operator looked as uneasy as Dulmur felt.  
‚Debris‘ could mean anything in this case. Parts of equipment, spaceship, or … agent.  
„Beam everything on board where the standard deviation of it’s chroniton readings is above 3.“  
„5“, Lucsly interrupted, absent mindedly. „We have to account for background radiation near Vulcan. This part of space is satiated with background chroniton radiation as a historical turning point of the federation.“  
„You heard the man.“ Agent Dulmur added, the corner of his lips twitching treacherously.  
  
Thankfully, Dulmur thought, the Debris consisted only of the usual rubble one would expect from a disaster in space: torn metal parts, a wrenched pipe, a part of a tricorders metal case, some scraps of fabric with red blotches on it - less ominous then the Agent would’ve liked and very obvious in their origin.  
„Too old to be part of a recent accident.“ said Dulmur.  
„And too fresh to be that old.“ concluded Lucsly, turning one of the metal pieces in his hands.  
Dulmur picked up a piece of cloth, careful to not touch the red fluid that had drenched it.  
„It’s still fresh. Must’ve come from downtime at most a couple of days ago.“ he placed the piece of cloth in a black box.  
„If the radiation hasn’t destroyed too much, we can run a genetic analysis on it.“  
They both nodded. They had a trail.

 


	5. Tempest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kevas first days on Voyager are kinda rough.  
> She tries to grapple with all that has happened, or doesn't.  
> A visit from Q escalates.
> 
> Soundtrack: Dark Matter by Les Friction

**Stardate 49341.1**  
**May 4, 2372**  
**A thursday**

**Voyager**

 

Tom Paris had shown Keva Scofield her quarters just five hours earlier. They both had left medbay under the scornful looks of the Doctor. He had insisted on five more days to keep her in sick bay and she had played along - for a while, until she had decided to pull the ‚i’m stranded and need some serious privacy to sort things out‘ card in front of the captain as a last resort. The last thing she wanted was to be recognized and seen as a victim on board the ship she was stranded on, but she was one uninvited guest short of throwing herself out of the nearest airlock to finish what the Q had started.  
Mr. Paris had shown her to her rooms gallantly - as well as offered to take her out for dinner, if she’d like to, which she had declined as politely as possible. Her argument about Q with the captain still rang in her ears. About the nonsense that was arresting him. The madness that was even thinking about it. Janeway had only met the stern gaze of a woman determined to set the record straight. She would not be swayed from her conviction.  
At some point Janeway had given up trying to argue with her - firstly, the omnipotent was nowhere to be seen at the moment anyway. And secondly she probably attributed Keva’s behavior to her unique situation - a situation that even set her apart from her new cremates stranded in the delta quadrant.

Since Mr. Paris had dropped her off at her quarters and she had declined his offer she had been pacing the room. She had tried to read the file Tuvok had put together for her but set it down after half a page - just like any other day before. She watched the PADD scornfully. It was her final admittance that she was stranded here. Her giving in to being here and existing here from now on. Even further - it was accepting the fate the Q had picked for her and something inside her welled up like bile, revolting at the thought of him having control over her.  
Which was, of course, true. He had as much control over her as he wished for. With a snap of his fingers, she’d be back in her own time - or forward another hundred years.  
The thought lingered on for a second, until she decided to push it away.  
She was a temporal agent. She had to pull herself together. She had a duty.

The young woman stopped pacing in front of the replicator and stared at it. Tom had explained to her how the rations system worked and she knew she had a few rations left.  
She turned away again, started to pace once more. Another thing the Doctor had strictly forbidden - too much exercise at once. From what she’d understood, her body was pretty much broken in every imaginable way - with various broken bones, a torn spleen and internal damage that had cost the doctor a whole day of back to back operations. Even without the doctors stern advice she could still feel the damage in her bones - more so now that she had slowly started to withdraw the pain meds and began to actually feel her body again. It was not a pleasant experience and she would have to come in several times more for dermal regeneration, if she wanted to get rid of the scar tissue that was forming. She walked over to the bathroom - still amazed of how spacious these quarters were compared to her own time at starfleet, but with the nagging suspicion that she was getting some extra treatment - and removed the black shirt someone had given her. For a moment, she hesitated. Then she threw the thing to the side and slid out of her shoes first, then out of her trousers and underwear. She took another deep breath, reaching for the feeling of dread in her throat, examining it carefully, methodically, trying to pull from the training she had received as an agent.  
"You’re an Agent of Temporal Investigations“, the young woman muttered to reassure herself. Then she loosened the arms that were crossed firmly in front of her chest, disentangled them and let them sink to her side. She carefully pried through her half opened eyelids and into the mirror.

Somewhat surprisingly she didn’t look one day older.  
„Of course not.“ she scolded herself, then forced her eyes over what she saw in the mirror. The Doctor had offered to show her a recording of her arrival on board but she had declined. It was enough to face reality as it was.  
Still, she looked bad. Like someone had thrown her into a trash press. An intergalactic, gravitational trash press.  
She was pretty sure that just two weeks before (One hundred years and two weeks before, she reminded herself) her skin was not covered in bruises. Not even the medical advancements at this point in time could take care of all the signs of damage on her body, but she got a good impression of the miracle work the Doctor and Kes had performed on her. Keva made a mental note to get both of them something nice as a thank you. There were going to be a lot of "thank you"s to be handed out in the coming days, she thought bitterly.  
The showers were sonic showers - she had seen some first models back then, but they seemed to be a standard-issue on starfleet ships now. Of course, the result was the same. But there was the missing sensation of soap on bruised skin, the tiny stings of pain that reminded her that she was indeed alive. Maybe the sonic vibrations were comforting for those used to it, but she stared at the wall of her shower, longing for the feeling of hot water running down her neck and spine.  
Her partner would’ve understood that.  
Lorilee.  
Keva hesitated, the sonic pulse drumming in her ear and brain.  
„Computer… shower off.“ she whispered then and as the cleaning device stopped, she sank to the ground and started crying.  
Lorilee was probably dead. As was everyone else she’d ever known and loved.

It was Kes that chimed at her door just an hour later and found her sitting on her bed, draped in an oversized shirt she’d found somewhere. She was 22 century, after all, and didn’t mind. The shirt was not much shorter then a standard issue starfleet uniform for women back then.  
„Mrs. Scofield“, Kes’ voice was soft enough to already feel cushioned in it. A soft breeze of warm air on a bitter cold day. The agent knew that she was a nice change of pace from the holographic doctors rather cold demeanor in sickbay.  
„Kes.“ the young women answered and looked up to the Ocampa in her room. Her lips twitched into a weak smile.  
The alien watched her for a second, obviously forgetting what she had wanted to say, then stepped over to her. She gestured for the place next to Keva on the bed, who in return just nodded. Kes sat down, her eyes filled with worry and compassion.  
_Why. She barely knows me. I’m just another face._  
„You have been crying, Mrs. Scofield.“ she said and Keva rubbed her treacherous red and swollen eyes.  
„Say Keva, Kes. As far as I can see, we’re gonna stick together for a while here.“ the human woman replied, offering a weak smile. She hesitated, then added: „I owe you a thank you for saving my life. I think.“  
Kes watched the other woman closely, blue eyes carefully tracing her features.  
„You don’t.“ she said gently.  
„I wanted to come over … Keva, and ask if you need anything.“  
„A good night of normal sleep perhaps“, Keva answered drily, the most favorable of answers that had come to her mind. Why was everyone on this ship just so damn nice to her? She felt the unrest brewing in her. But, no. She reminded herself to be professional. She was, after all, the representative for her organization in this quadrant.

„The doctor asked me to give you this medication, another reason I’m here“, Kes added, a warm smile curling her lips. She lifted a petite hand and touched Kevas shoulder. A gentle reminder of her presence here.  
„Will it… make me sleep?“  
„Yes. But you’re not allowed to get it regularly. The doctor thought it may be a good idea for your first night alone since…“ Kes stopped dead in her tracks, looking uncomfortable for a second.  
„Before my displacement.“ Kevas voice was a constant monotone, stating a fact without touching the emotions hiding behind it. It was an infected wound, festering in her body and she did not want it touched. Not now. Maybe not ever.  
„Yes.“ the warmth of Kes hand on Kevas shoulder was slowly intruding on her, and the human felt a shiver pearl down her skin. She felt cold and miserable.  
„Thank you.“ Keva avoided the Ocampas gaze. Torn and confused, there was a pressure in her throat she couldn’t explain. All she wanted to do was take whatever the Doctor had Kes bring her and slip into a dreamless sleep.  
„I’ll, leave you alone.“ Maybe it was Kes telepathic ability, maybe it was just her knack for other people that made her get up and walk over to the quarter doors, feeling that she was overstaying her welcome here.  
„Good Night, Keva. If there is anything … call me. Or the Captain. You just need to tell the computer.“  
She waited for an answer, but got none and left, lost in thoughts.

Keva did not want to be unfriendly. Being unfriendly was just not her style. Not if not necessary. But she wanted to be alone and not surrounded by these people. She wanted to be close and held and couldn’t, wouldn’t, shouldn’t. She was an agent, trained for everything timeline related. It couldn’t be that hard to adapt when she had crossed the universes fabric itself and survived.  
A groan escaped her mouth, frightful of the dimming lights and the darkness that fell over her and that feeling that lingered in the dark. The memory that she so desperately tried to stow away into the deep corner of her mind. She grabbed the pill Kes had left, a glass of water and chugged it down quickly.  
Only ten minutes later she was fast asleep.

* * *

 

Over the course of the next few days she fell into an uneasy rhythm onboard Voyager - in the morning she would wake up, exhausted and feeling distractingly hollow - as if someone had left a hole in her chest that couldn’t be filled up by anything really. She would put on a grey uniform - dissatisfied with how it fit and how unnatural it felt to her. As if she was betraying her people. Afterwards she would force down some sort of breakfast and go over to the Doctor - who would examine her for one or two hours, taking samples and measurements and whatnots from her and shower her in lectures and suggestions. Sometimes Kes would interrupt him, having a good feeling as to when the Doctor was pushing it with Kevas patience and heroically saving his holographic program from the more crude things the agent had in mind to retort. The doctors prodding and asking was usually followed by lunch, gym, wandering the floors and checking in at her counselor. Finally an uneventful dinner and lying in her bed, staring at the ceiling of her quarters, or reading in the journal trying to play a cruel game of catch up with the world around her. Keva slipped out of that dreadful uniform and slipped into her long shirt, skipping a few pages of Tuvoks report before resigning on that and musing on the idea of alcohol.  
Every other day she would’ve have welcomed the ordinary and the feeling of stability routine would bring to her - but the agent in the back of her mind continuously reminded her that stability was an illusion, the timeline a thing that was in constant danger and that her being here was proof for both.

„Dreadful. There is no proper drink on this vessel.“  
She jerked around to face the omnipotent sitting at the table in her quarters, right leg swung over his left leg and a flute with a green liquid in his hand.  
„Really you shouldn’t even try the canteen. Terrible food. Worse drinks. And the company…“ he sighed, visibly distraught.  
„You.“ Keva spat. Neither muscle nor hair on her body were moving and yet she gave the distinct impression of someone ready to jump at any second. Her eyes fixated on the tall figure lounging at her table, now taking a sip from the drink in his hand.  
„Why, yes, me.“ he exclaimed cheerfully.  
„Did you expect someone else?“  
He took another sip of his drink without said liquid becoming any less in the glass. Keva started to move carefully. A long stride that brought her between him and her quarters doors.  
„I expected to be left alone“ her voice bore a sharp edge. She wasn’t hinting, she was definitely telling.  
„Oh, you’ve been sulking for almost a week now. You surely must get tired of it at some point.“  
The omnipotent sat his glass down on the table and it remained where he had put it in a refreshing display of continuity.  
„I have been -„  
„Temporally displaced, yes, yes, I know all about that“, he sighed while interrupting her, his now free hand gesturing to the table. He used one of his feet to push a chair away from it, inviting her to sit down.  
The young woman bit her tongue, the muscles in her face moving between anger and defeat like a pendulum.  
„What do you want from me, Q?“ she finally asked, still staring at him.  
„Finally. A change of topic.“ The Q sounded almost relieved.  
„I swear I couldn’t see you pity yourself for five more minutes. Which says a lot if your immortal. Now. Sit down. Come here. Drink with me. Be a nice little mortal.“  
The young woman shook her head - strains of her brown hair fell into her face. Her grey eyes were piercing him now.  
„Self pity…“ she spat again and crossed her arms in front of her chest.  
He sighed and repeated the inviting gesture from before. A second flute of green liquid appeared.  
„I promise you’ll find it most exciting.“

„I hate excitement.“ she muttered.  
„Oh, you tell yourself that.“ he muttered in return, more to himself then to her, rolling his eyes theatrically.  
With a snap of his fingers she sat next to him, flute in her hand. She drew a sharp breath.  
„Now that’s better and much more friendly, isn’t it?“ he mused, picking up his flute again to toast at her.  
Keva seemed frozen in time - her fingers gripping the flute hard enough for her muscles to shake and transport small ripples through the green liquid, which she strongly suspected to be alcohol. Her grey eyes were piercing him with ever more intensity - the fire of a hot white sun burning within them. Her jaws were pressed shut with enough force for him to hear her teeth grind against another, an almost painful sound, uncomfortable to the ear.  
They locked eyes. And although he acted all jovial and inviting his eyes were hard, unmoving in his determination to make her follow his will.  
She lifted the flute and bore her teeth in what could only be described as the bad imitation of a smile. A threatening display that was rooted deep down in the evolutionary tree of her primitive ancestors.  
His eyes never left hers.

And in one swift motion, abrupt and angry she threw the drink in his face.

She knew then by the look on his face that she had gone too far with the omnipotent.  
She knew it by the forceful way he used to snap his fingers and clean his uniform and face.  
She knew it by how he forgot to snap his fingers to replace the second drink on the table.  
She knew when he was over her in a motion so fast she didn’t see it coming, pinning her down in her chair and staring into her eyes with his - black oceans of barely contained rage.  
„You ungrateful primate.“ he hissed.  
She refused to gulp, but she knew he could see the fear lingering in the corner of her eyes.  
„Don’t tease more then is good for you.“ he growled now. And she could feel the eternal, the raw primeval force that he was.  
„Then kill me already. Finish what you started. Make it end.“ Keva whispered back. He averted her from turning her head by grabbing her chin and forcing her to look at him.  
„No.“ he simply stated, unusually taciturn.  
„Then why.“ his grip was strong enough to bring tears to her eyes now, but she refused to say anything. Refused to fight his grip.  
"You’re unbelievably stubborn.“ it was an assessment, now calmer again, his voice merely a slightly irritated scowl - everything that was dangerous and ready to make her disappear at the blink of an eye vanished back into the corner it had crept up from. She could still see it, though,now, as if suddenly made aware of a stain she hadn’t noticed before. It was a constant companion in everything he said and did, in the way he moved and smiled. It was certainty of his omnipotence.  
The Q curled his lips back into a smile, satisfied with what he saw.  
„Never do that again, my dear human friend.“ and then he finally let go of her chin. Only then did she exhale slowly, uncomfortably aware of how close he was, of how he loomed over her. A promise she couldn’t quite put yet.  
„Now. Good Night then. Agent Scofield. Until next time.“

He still smiled and Keva found it to be more unsettling then his untamed anger from mere seconds ago. With a snap of his fingers, he was gone again. Only a flute of green liquid remained on her table - and a bunch of carefully folded clothes next to it.

 

 


End file.
